Post by Keith on Aug 14, 2019 6:41:36 GMT -6

Shrinking German economy 'on edge of recession' as exports stutter

BERLIN (Reuters) - Slumping exports sent Germany’s economy into reverse in the second quarter, with prospects of an early recovery slim as its manufacturers struggle at the sharp end of a global slowdown amplified by tariff conflicts and fallout from Brexit.

Overall output fell 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, data showed on Wednesday. With pressure growing on a thus far reluctant government to provide more fiscal stimulus, the economy minister said action was needed to prevent a second consecutive quarter of contraction that would tip the country into recession.

The global slowdown, reinforced by Chinese industrial output expanding at its lowest rates in 17 years in July, has broadly impacted the euro zone, where corresponding data showed second quarter growth halved to 0.2%.

Post by Keith on Aug 15, 2019 6:34:58 GMT -6

Dow plummets 800 points on worsening global recession fears

Stocks and oil prices plummeted Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial tumbling 800 points -- the fourth largest daily point drop on record and the worst this year -- as increasing global recession fears drove Wall Street investors to the safety of U.S. government debt.

The yield, or interest rate, of the Treasury’s 2-year note exceeded the yield on the 10-year Treasury, an ominous signal, known as an inverted yield curve, that a recession is on the way.

Feeding fears of a global recession was a report that Chinese industrial production was climbing at its weakest rate in 17 years and Germany’s economy -- Europe’s strongest -- was actually shrinking.

Post by Keith on Aug 15, 2019 6:35:40 GMT -6

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell 3% to below $58 a barrel on Thursday, extending the previous session’s 3% drop, pressured by mounting recession concerns and a surprise boost in U.S. crude inventories.

In a sign of investor concern that the world’s biggest economy could be heading for recession, weighing on oil demand, the U.S. Treasury bond yield curve inverted on Wednesday for the first time since 2007.

Global benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 fell as much as $1.81, or 3%, to $57.67 a barrel and by 1117 GMT was down $1.57 at $57.91. U.S. crude CLc1 fell $1.03 to $54.20.

Post by Keith on Aug 15, 2019 6:36:58 GMT -6

Global stocks hurt by China's trade threats, falling bond yields

LONDON (Reuters) - China’s threat to impose counter-measures in retaliation for the latest U.S. tariffs knocked stocks sprawling on Thursday, checking earlier attempt to recover from a rout sparked by fears of a world recession.

Wall Street futures erased earlier losses and were trading in positive territory, but the relentless drop in global bond yields raised fears the world economy was hurtling toward recession and weighed on global equities.

Expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks would respond robustly to the recession warning helped world stocks to steady earlier. But that recovery was cut short by the latest rhetoric from Beijing

Post by Keith on Aug 15, 2019 6:37:43 GMT -6

Relentless rise of consumer debt in Russia fuels bubble fears for some

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Natalia Leontyeva, a Siberian sales manager, bought a second hand car in 2013 with a loan worth about four monthly salaries. She now owes the equivalent of at least four years of earnings, one of a growing number of Russians struggling with debt.

“You pay one month’s instalment, then the second. But then something happens again and it all piles up,” she said by phone from the city of Novosibirsk in Siberia where she works at a steelworks.

After five years of shrinking real incomes, many Russians are borrowing to make ends meet or even just to pay off their creditors - and the issue is climbing up the political agenda.

Post by Keith on Aug 15, 2019 6:38:28 GMT -6

Bitcoin slumps to two-week low on technical trading, market jitters

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin extended losses on Thursday after suffering its worst day for a month on Wednesday, with traders citing factors ranging from technical trading to jitters in traditional markets washing into cryptocurrency trading.

The biggest cryptocurrency fell 5.5% in early trade BTC=BTSP after slumping 7.7% a day earlier, when it dropped under $10,000 for the first time since Aug. 1 and posted its biggest fall since July 16.

Post by Keith on Aug 16, 2019 6:58:44 GMT -6

U.S. surfboard makers not so stoked about China tariffs

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s decision to slap 10% tariffs on imported surfboards convinced surf executive Sue Bowers to move factory jobs out of China - but not back to the United States, which was one goal of Trump’s tariffs.

Strict environmental rules and steep labor costs have sent scores of Southern California surfboard manufacturers to China. Now, the tariffs have Bowers and other executives searching for factories in places such as Thailand and Vietnam.

“This was Surf City,” said Bowers, general manager of Southern California Sports Industries in Orange County.

Post by Keith on Aug 16, 2019 6:59:23 GMT -6

Deere trims earnings forecast on trade war woes

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Deere & Co.’s (DE.N) third-quarter earnings on Friday missed Wall Street estimates, hurt by the U.S.-China trade war that has dented the demand for its farm machines, forcing the company to revise down its full-year profit and sales growth forecasts.

The Moline, Illinois-based company now expects full-year net income of $3.2 billion on annual sales growth of 4%, lower than the $3.3 billion of income on sales up about 5% projected earlier.

This is the second cut to the full-year earnings outlook in the past three months.

Post by Keith on Aug 16, 2019 6:59:58 GMT -6

Dirty shipping fuel margins plunge as cleaner fuel rules loom

LONDON (Reuters) - Margins for European high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO), used to power ships, sank this week as preparations for a global shift to cleaner maritime fuel next year start to weigh on prices.

High sulphur fuel oil is one of the dirtiest and cheapest products to come out of a refinery. It is used in power generation but has been the fuel of choice in global shipping for decades.

But most demand will evaporate after new rules from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) which aim to cut pollution come into effect from January 1. More shipping fuel rules will come in the future to tackle climate change.

Post by Keith on Aug 16, 2019 7:00:59 GMT -6

Hong Kong on brink of recession as trade war, political protests escalate

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong is on the verge of its first recession in a decade as increasingly violent anti-government protests scare off tourists and bite into retail sales in one of the world’s most popular shopping destinations.

The economy shrank 0.4% in April-June from the previous quarter, revised government data showed on Friday, and conditions have sharply deteriorated since then as demonstrations spread, closing the airport at one stage and paralyzing prime shopping areas.

The Asian financial center, which also has one of the world’s busiest ports, was already under intense pressure from the escalating Sino-U.S. trade war and China’s biggest economic slowdown in decades.

Post by Keith on Aug 17, 2019 7:22:36 GMT -6

U.S. stocksOpens a New Window. closed up Friday as possible stimulus measures in EuropeOpens a New Window. and rising U.S. bond yields fired up Wall Street's risk appetiteOpens a New Window..

Despite the day's gains, the three major American equity averages posted their third consecutive losing week.

Markets were anticipating the European Central BankOpens a New Window. will cut rates in September and resume a bond-buyingOpens a New Window. program, according to Reuters. And add Mexico as the latest country to cut interest rates overnight.